Bitter News, 2-23-10

• According to BL1Y, Reason Not to Go to Law School #34: “You will never retire.” 10% of the NY lawyer population is over 65—compared to 12.8% of the overall US population. And at least four lawyers have a “work-until-death” ethic. So where the hell does Alice Thomas fit in? She just graduated from McGeorge School of Law, and she’s the oldest lawyer-to-be in the nation at the age of 79. And guess what. She has a job offer. [The Sacramento Bee]

• Speaking of lawyers-to-be, the February bar exam kicks off today. Seated in attendance is Bitter Lawyer’s favorite (non-)lawyer Elizabeth Wurtzel. We know she is because, just like every other person in her position, she’s been tweeting her laments. Yesterday she posted: “I guess I’m taking the bar exam on Tuesday & Wednesday. Anyone with magical, mystical powers who wants to use them on my behalf, please do.” Good luck to Lizzie and all. Rock it. [Above the Law]

• The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are investigating allegations that Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion School District activated web cams on notebook computers issued to students at Harriton High School to spy on them—better known now as “webcamgate.” But if school administrators plan to talk to students and parents about the controversy, they will have to get a lawyer’s blessing. “Not from their own lawyers, but the ones suing them on behalf of a Harriton High sophomore who claims the school invaded his home and his privacy by remotely snapping his image with the camera on his school-provided laptop.” The judge signed an “unusual order” requiring the school to give the other side a copy of what they plan to say—and at least six hours notice. [Philly.com]

• Take me out to the ballgame…at Thomas M. Cooley Law School Park. The law school is paying $1.485 million over 11 years for the naming rights to the downtown Lansing, MI ballpark that’s home to the minor league Lansing Lugnuts. [GreenwichTime]

• A straight-no-bow-tie Herman Thomas, the former Mobile circuit judge acquitted last year of charges he sexually abused and spanked male inmates, was disbarred yesterday by the Alabama Bar Association…again. He lost his license for five years—but he’s still got a Florida license up his sleeve. [Fox10TV.com]

• John Yoo, one of the Torture Memo authors (and Berkeley law prof), hasn’t shied from the camera one bit. He and Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, were recently neither punished nor exonerated for the memos. But as one journalist admits, “Yoo is a smooth, slippery but still ultimately shady operator.” [NBC Bay Area]

• We’ve examined some bitter divorces in our day, but the new tour de force of billionaire divorce are Frank & Jamie McCourt. Either one OR both of them own the Los Angeles Dodgers—because that’s the beauty of divorce proceedings! His side says he’s sole owner, she’s a cheater and he’s cash poor. Her side says she’s half owner, in need of almost a mill a month to maintain her lifestyle and that he’s lying about not being butt-ass loaded. A new spectator sport. [Business Insider]

• Here’s something infectious: A University of Chicago Law School did a study concluding that hospitals are where healthy people go to die. [Los Angeles Times]

• All the white-shoe firms in Australia are declaring: “We’re the good guys – you can trust us,” oi, oi, oi. Aussie BigLaw is accusing their federal government of being prejudiced against lawyers. [SMH.com.au]

• According to BL1Y, Reason Not to Go to Law School #34: “You will never retire.” 10% of the NY lawyer population is over 65—compared to 12.8% of the overall US population. So where the hell does Alice Thomas fit in? She just graduated from McGeorge School of Law, and she’s the oldest lawyer-to-be in the nation at the age of 79. And guess what. She has a job offer. [The Sacramento Bee]

• Speaking of lawyers-to-be, the February bar exam kicks off today. Seated in attendance is Bitter Lawyer’s favorite (non-)lawyer Elizabeth Wurtzel. We know she is because

Bitter Lawyer readers have probably been asking themselves what the heck is wrong with lawyers in Pennsylvania. But for now, never mind the lawyers. Let’s ask instead what’s wrong...

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